How We Made Our Down Payments (Infographic)

Keys to Homeownership – Part 3

Don't wait to find your dream house before starting to save for it. Check out our infographic above to learn how long Americans save for their down payments, from where the money came, and what their biggest obstacles were.

Part two in our Keys to Homeownership series revealed the types of homes Americans bought, and explored the various reasons they chose their homes. Part four will focus on how homebuyers paid for their homes and the sacrifices they had to make to afford it.

Saving for a typical 20% down payment is nearly impossible in today's economy. There are so many programs that help with down payment assistance, and even programs that don't require a down payment at all. The lack of a down payment doesn't prevent you from buying a home - you just have to do your research.

The way I was able to have a large down payment on my home isn't listed: unexpected funds. It's interesting, though, to see the large percentage of people who saved for their down payments, and also to see the smaller percentage of people who borrowed from pension funds.

The down payment is the hardest part of the deal. It is so hard to save while living day to day. I wish there were more programs for people to reach homeownership without the down payment or some type of assistance in this area.

When we were first married, I had no idea how to go about buying a house - both our families built houses on family land. We had to do a lot of research and figure out how to get the down payment, and we couldn't have done that at all without some help from family.